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Carlin racer Nasr started the race on Prime tyres and took the lead into the first corner, retaining it after his mandatory stop for Options to triumph by 3.8 seconds.

McLaren edged out Ferrari in the youth stakes as Stoffel Vandoorne finished second, while Raffaele Marciello recovered from a poor start to take his first podium in GP2.

Nasr moved straight into the lead after poor getaways from pole man Johnny Cecotto Jr. and Jolyon Palmer.

Further back, Artem Markelov got some air after hitting the back of André Negrão, while Adrian Quaife-Hobbs headed to the pits after sustaining front damage in an incident with Kimiya Sato.

Nasr then began to extend his lead over Prime-starter Cecotto Jr., who soon slipped back into the clutches of his rivals. Stefano Coletti passed the Venezuelan at Turn 2 after a few laps, while Palmer got through on the following straight.

Palmer edged away from Cecotto Jr. but his tyres began to wear and he stayed out for a few laps before switching to Primes, losing a position to early-pitter Vandoorne.

Nasr continued to hold a small advantage over Coletti, with Cecotto Jr. and Evans 10 seconds further back. Vandoorne, Palmer and Marciello bunched together as they made their way through traffic, albeit with the caveat that all three were losing lap time to leader Nasr.

Cecotto Jr. was the first of the frontrunners to pit, coming out a few seconds behind Marciello and having to defend against Rossi. Evans pitted a lap later and slotted in front of Cecotto Jr., who was tagged by Alexander Rossi into Turn 2. As the trio approached Turn 3 Evans locked up and ran wide, ceding track position to Cecotto Jr. and Rossi.

Nasr and Coletti both pitted for Option tyres with 10 laps remaining and while the Brazilian retained the lead, Vandoorne was able to get through on Coletti into Turn 2. Behind them, Marciello usurped Palmer and started hounding the back of his Racing Engineering team-mate.

The Italian driver passed Coletti at his favoured Turn 1 on the next lap while Palmer was soon desperately trying to find a way past Coletti as well.

Nasr came under pressure briefly from Vandoorne but he set the fastest lap of the race to stretch his lead to over two seconds, with Marciello holding third. Behind them, Evans reclaimed seventh by going around the outside of Rossi into Turn 3.

Marciello repelled the threat from Coletti and began to hunt down second-placed Vandoorne, but he ultimately had to settle for third.

Coletti came home in fourth position, ahead of Palmer and Cecotto Jr.

Evans was seventh, with Rossi, Takuya Izawa and Arthur Pic, who lost time in the pits, completing the top 10.

Sunday's Sprint Race at the Red Bull Ring gets underway at 10.35am local time (GMT +2)

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